Fake crying and bad acting in the ER

[Emergent, RN]

I see a lot of untalented actors in the ER. They walk to their rooms telling their sad stories that sound like poorly written scripts. Then they plop down onto the gurney, starting what sounds like feigned tearless crying. Some of them continue to wail after you've left the room, amping it up every time they see you walk by through the glass door, peeking through their eyelids to see if you've noticed.

I've seen some really bad acting in the ER!

[OldDude]

You forgot to add the pain score of 10

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

We had a amateur actor recently that could learn a little from the pro's. Was having tonic-clonic movements, but would stop when we would sternly tell pt to stop. No Ativan required.

[All4NursingRN]

Ugh I always disliked this too! I know pain is subjective but when you're talking and laughing with your family in the waiting room and when called in to triage your pain is a 9 on a scale of 1-10 to try to have me push you in faster...aarrghhh trying to make my ESI go from a 3 to a 2!

I once had a patient tell me there pain was an 11 with a smile on there face. When I asked the question again, they repeated it's an 11 it's off the chart! Sure it is------> click #7 on 1-10, triage complete lol.

You forgot to add the pain score of 10

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

In the health office at my school, the kids will be hooting and hollering all the way down the hall..until they come through the door. Then it is the non stop cough, sounding like they are ready to cough up a lung!

[schnookimz]

Oh god I once had a minor actor as a patient. He had a few small parts in tv and movies a long time ago. I certainly had never heard of him, but he thought it was a good time to put his acting skills on display. So in the middle of conversation, he would burst out into fake tears and then thirty seconds later go on to say, "hahaa see how I did that there? I had you fooled didn't i?"

It was fine. Till it happened 5 more times......

[Emergent, RN]

You forgot to add the pain score of 10

You meant 20/10 pain, right?

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Local law enforcement brought in a guy who'd had the crap beat out of him by the father of his molesting victim. They brought him in to be checked before booking him into jail. He exits the squad car in the ambulance bay, falls on the floor and proceeds to have a 'seizure' all the while hollering, "You can't take me to jail, I'm having a seizure secondary to my head injury!"

Yes, fake seizures are my favorite.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Local law enforcement brought in a guy who'd had the crap beat out of him by the father of his molesting victim. They brought him in to be checked before booking him into jail. He exits the squad car in the ambulance bay, falls on the floor and proceeds to have a 'seizure' all the while hollering, "You can't take me to jail, I'm having a seizure secondary to my head injury!"

Yes, fake seizures are my favorite.

Aahh. Nothing like the sternal chest rub & ammonia to get the patient to stop.

[emergency_love]

Oh goodness. I work in an inner-city community ER where we see a lot of drug addiction and the like. A lot of pill seekers try to rev up their acting game. We're talking like they throw themselves out of wheelchairs and onto the floor while saying "I'M COMING FOR YOU JESUS!" Maybe it makes me a bad person but it takes all I can do not to audibly sigh and roll my eyes and ask if they are all finished.

[amoLucia]

OP's post about the pt peeking triggered my remembering a current TV commercial. A female driver has been pulled over and the cop is standing there while she does some mock boo-hooing. She peeks open her right eye to check out if he noticed or is sympathetic.

And the Oscar goes to ...

[Gabby-RN]

My favorite is the bad acting that starts when you walk into the room as opposed to when you spotted them texting on their cell phone looking comfortable as ever as you walked toward their room without them noticing.